As of now, ESPN’s Joe Lunardi has Michigan as a 4-seed and Maryland as a 5-seed in the NCAA tournament projections. With a head-to-head win on the road Wednesday night, Maryland would likely overtake the Wolverines in seeding. The Terps are led by 5-star freshman Derik Queen (15.9 PPG), along with Ja’Kobi Gillespie (15.1 PPG), Rodney Rice (13.7 PPG), Julian Reese (13.3 PPG), and Selton Miguel (11.9 PPG). Maryland relies heavily on their starting five, who generate almost all of their production in terms of minutes and points. 

Michigan enters the contest coming off a demoralizing loss at home to Illinois Sunday afternoon. Led by 7-footers Vlad Goldin (16.1 PPG) and Danny Wolf (12.5 PPG), the Wolverines have struggled to defend home court recently after winning their first 12 games in Ann Arbor. The Wolverines are expecting to get more minutes from Rubin Jones, who played just 13 minutes Sunday after missing two straight games. 

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Michigan injury report

Maryland vs. Michigan prediction

Both at 22-7 on the year, Maryland and Michigan match up perfectly against each other. Most teams don’t have the size and athleticism to match up with Danny Wolf and Vlad Goldin, given their ability to play on the perimeter. Enter Derik Queen and Julian Reese: Queen has the talent and athleticism to go toe to toe with Wolf, while Reese will be able to compete down low with Goldin. 

Both Wolf and Queen are better offensively than defensively, and I expect them to be trading buckets all night. Ja’Kobi Gillespie and Tre Donaldson will be a great match up at the point guard spot, while each team’s off-ball guards will get their fair share of open looks with the defensive focus on the big men. 

There are two main edges for Michigan: bench production and home court advantage. Maryland is 4-5 on the road this year, while Michigan is 13-2 at home. Additionally, Michigan gets more quality minutes from their bench players, including Will Tschetter, Roddy Gayle Jr., and LJ Cason. 

Julian Reese has had 4+ fouls in nine games this year, and he’s going to have his hands full with Vlad Goldin in the post. If Reese is in foul trouble, Maryland is going to have a hard time containing the Michigan offense.